Buttler wins it for Lancashire

England wicketkeeper-batsman Jos Buttler hit 17 off the final over to win Lancashire’s Natwest t20 Blast Roses battle against Yorkshire with a single off the last ball.

The 24-year-old had arrived at the crease with his side needing 104 off 56 balls and his unbeaten 71 off 35 got them to their target of 186 with nothing to spare after initially hitting a six and two fours off the first three deliveries of Tim Bresnan’s final over.

Hosts Yorkshire had been 25 for two after 15 balls but recovered thanks to 55 from Buttler’s international team-mate Joe Root.

Durham remained top of the North Group after Derbyshire failed to score 11 off the final over to lose by five.

The home side lost batsmen regularly in their pursuit of the leaders’ 147 for seven, of which Paul Collingwood scored 41, but reached the final over with three wickets in hand only for Usman Arsad to remove two opponents.

That result prevented Leicestershire taking top spot after Umar Akmal (76 not out) dominated an unbeaten fourth-wicket stand of 99 with Matthew Boyce at Trent Bridge.

Nottinghamshire’s total of 148 for seven was based around the efforts of Anthony Hales (54) and Brendan Taylor (47) but looked below par.

However, three wickets for Jake Ball appeared to have given the hosts the edge until Akmal intervened, winning the game with his fifth six of the innings with seven balls to spare.

England batsman Moeen Ali fell 10 short of a century but Worcestershire still beat winless Northamptonshire by 14 runs after posting 211 for three.

Josh Cobb hit 80 off 44 but the visitors still came up short.

Gloucestershire closed the gap to two points with victory over Southern Group leaders Kent in their top-of-the-table clash at Beckenham.

Michael Klinger (69no) and Ian Cockbain (54no) put on 105 as the visitors coasted to a nine-wicket win as they chased down their opponents’ 156 for six with 16 balls left.

Essex’s six-wicket win over Surrey saw them move off the bottom of the table at the expense of their hosts as half-centuries for Tom Westley and Ravi Bopara saw them home with four balls to spare in reply to the home side’s 169 for eight.

Chris Gayle continued his big hitting for Somerset as he took his average to 328 in three matches for the county with 85 off 49 balls in the eight-wicket win at home to Taunton.

James Vince’s unbeaten 64 in the visitors’ 167 for three made little difference as Gayle put on 89 in 59 balls with Peter Trego (51) and 78 in 40 balls with James Hildreth.

In a tense finish in Cardiff, Glamorgan restricted Middlesex to just eight off the final over to win by five runs.

Chasing 169 for five after Jacques Rudolph’s 60, the visitors lost their momentum when Dawid Malan was out for 70 with 3.4 overs remaining.